Shunting-lever.



No. 704,978. Patented July I5, |902.

' W. TAYLOR.

SHUNTING LEVER.

Appliutiun med nec. 23, 190m 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

(-No Model.)

No. 704,978. Patented .Iuly I5, |902.

w. TAvLo. f

SHUNTING LEVER.

(Application filed Dec, 23, 1901.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

NITED STATES l WILLIAM TAYLOR, or sANnIAcRE, ENGLAND.

SHUNTING-LEVER SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 704,978, dated July 1 5, 1902. Application iiled December 23, 1901. Serial No. 871019. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM TAYLOR, engineer, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Sandiacre, in the county of Derby, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shunting-Levers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in shunting levers or appliances for operating switches or points, whether facing`7 or trailing, and locking them on railways and tramways, also for actuating semaphore-signale, and for other like purposes; and it has for its object to simplify such levers or appliances, i to reduce the cost of construction thereof, to enable a greater number of them than heretofore to be arranged in a given space, and to dispense with the weights, elbow-levers, springs, and cumbersome tackle now in use. 'f

Heretoforeshunting and point levers have comprised elbow-levers and other tackle with a heavy count-erbalance-weight which had to be thrown over by hand, and consequently jolted the parts of the apparatus considerably, sometimes even throwing out the connectingpins, while at other times damaging other of the numerous component parts and leaving the hand-lever in a vibratory condition for some time after the points 7 had been ser,

which in the case of facing pointsis danger ous, as derailment is apt to result. More over, with such apparatus it is possible to throw over the handle and weight without the switch or point rails being set close against the main rails, owing to some accidental obstructionas, for instance, in case of gravel or a stone or ice gettingr between the two said rails or upon the shunting-lever, and so causing said lever to become jammed, in neither of which cases wouldany indication of the imperfect action begiven to the pointsman. By means of my improved shunting lever or appliance which I am about to describe the above and other defects are eliminated and a simple but secure locking is effected.

According to my invention my improved shunting lever or appliance consists, substantially, of or is characterized by a helical element, which may be a stout cylindrical screw, spirally-iuted cylindrical bar or twist-cylinder of quick pitch, and a nut (cored or riiied to correspond to the threads or spiral liutings or grooves) adapted to be worked along it in either direction by means of a pivoted hand-lever, (or other means,) so as to operate the screw and cause it to actuate the point or switch rod, the screw being provided with means to connect it to the said rod and the nut with means to maintain it in its longitudinal reciprocations, or the nut may be restrained from longitudinal motion and the helical element or screw be adapted to traverse it in either direction, and in order that my invention may be readily understood I will describe it :fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l is a side elevation of a shuntinglever embodying my invention and adapted for setting facing or trailing points. Fig. 2 is a plan thereof. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line :r :o of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is an end view of the screw or helical element. Fig. 5 is an elevation of amodiiied form of locking lever or appliance for points or signals.. Fig. 6 is a plan of the same, and Fig. 7 is an end view of the screw or helical element made use `of in this arrangement.

Like letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the views.

Referring to Figs. l to 4, a is the screw or like helical element,which is of steel,wrought iron, or other/suitable material, and Zw is the nut which is threaded thereon and adapted to be worked along it in either direction, as hereinafter described. The said screw, which in the example shown has a double thread,

Iturns loosely upon a spindle or axle c, which is supported and fixed in brackets d upon a bed-plate e, having holes f for bolting to a sleeper or foundation block. At one end of said screwis a plain cylindrical portion g, provided with two brackets or lugs 7L, to which is attached one end of the point or switch rod t', which at its other end is secured to the point or switch rail in any Well-known and ordinary manner. e The pitch and length of the threads of the screw or the like are such as to impart the necessary movement to the point-rod t', so that the points can be set open7 or shut or the switch moved, as desired, whenthe nut b is by means of the hand-lever j pulled over to the one or other end of the said screw. This hand-lever is IOO -as by the passage of the hand-lever through pivoted at 7c to a bracket Z,(or chamber,) cast on or fixed to the under side of the bed-plate e, and works through a slot lm in said bedplate. A guide piece or fin 'n projects from the nut b and slides in a slot o, formed in the bed-plate e, (see Fig. 3,) so maintaining in position said nut in its longitudinal reciprocations along the screw. Upon the nut b are two pins or projections p, against which bear shoulders q on the hand-leverj when said lever is at either end position. These shoulders q serve as abutments for the pins, and thus lock and prevent any shaking of the parts or accidental movement of the nut. The distance between the said pins is sufficient to allow of the movement of the shoulder q from beneath the pin p when the hand-lever is moved. Instead ofthe arrangementshown the nut may be formed with a slot and the hand-lever pass through and work in said slot, or I may lock the nut by any other suitable means. Fig. t shows in dotted lines the position of the lugs or brackets h (upon the plain cylindrical portion g of the screw) when the hand-lever is at the opposite end of the screw to that in which it is represented in Figs. -1 and 2. Thus it will be readily understood that by simply pulling over the hand-leverj in either direction the nut b will travel along the screw d, so causing the latter to revolve and at the same time the brackets or lugs h to partake of a partial angular movement, thereby causing the rod to actuate the points or switches and set the rails to the required position.

According to a modification shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the nut Z7 is rendered incapable of reciprocation and is supported in and between the brackets d (which are designed as thrustblocks) in such a manner that it is capable of rotating about one-fourth of a revolution when the screw or helical element ais drawn or forced through it by means of the handlever j. In this instance the said hand-le` ver passes through a suitably-shaped slot s, formed in the end g of the screw, the top of which is circular and the bottom lat. One of the brackets d covers the helix a for its entire length and is provided with a slot through which the hand-lever j passes. The bottom of this bracket forms a channel or depression below the bed-plate proper,'and in this channel slides the flat or squared bottom of the end g of the helix d. By this means the helix a is prevented from rotating, as well it. The point or switch rod t' is here attached to the nut;

The above described arrangements are equally applicable to operating, in a similar manner, semaphores from signal-boxes or for other like purposes. l

"ttete Obviously I may employa screw or screws or the like having any suitable number of threads, iiutings, or twistings and a correspondingly-threaded nut, and the axis of the helix may be above or below the bed-plate or above or below the lugs for the fasteningdown bolts, as the nature of the case requires.

In all the above-described arrangements it will be at once perceived that no weight is used to load the lever in order to keep the points or switches in their locked position, the desired locking being eectually obtained simply by means of my improved shunting lever or appliance.

l. In a device of the character described, the combination with a longitudinally-slotted bed-plate and a screw movably supported thereon, of a nut arranged on the screw, a lever pivoted at one end at a point below the bed-plate and passing through a slot in the latter, said lever loosely engaging one of said parts to turn the other, and a pitman connected to the part that is to be turned and arranged to be reciprocated by the turning movement of said part, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination With a bed-plate and a screw journaled in bearings thereon, of a nut movably iitted on said screw, a lever for reciprocating the nut, and projections on the nut between which said lever is disposed, said lever being provided with shoulders arranged to interlock with said projections, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a longitudinally-slotted bed-plate and a screw journaled in bearings thereon, of a nut movably fitted on said screw and provided with a rib movably fitted in said slot, and a lever for reciprocating the nut, substantially as described.

4t. In a device of the character described,

the combination with a longitudinally-slotted WILLIAM TAYLOR.

Witnesses:

EMEN DE Lass, GEORG-E ERNEST MINTERN'.

ICO

TIO 

